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>
 From NCSE, http://www.ncseweb.org


>MCGILL JOURNAL OF EDUCATION SPECIAL ISSUE ON TEACHING EVOLUTION
>
>A special issue of the McGill Journal of Education (vol. 42, no. 2)
>focusing on evolution education is now freely available on-line.  In their
>preface, the issue's editors, Jason Wiles of McGill University and Anila
>Asghar of Johns Hopkins University, write:
>
>***
>
>the teaching and learning of evolution has faced difficulties ranging from
>pedagogical obstacles to social controversy.  These include two distinctive
>sets of problems:  one arising from the fact that many evolutionary
>concepts may seem, at least initially, counterintuitive to students, and
>the other deriving from objections rooted in religion.  Despite the
>overwhelming acceptance of evolution among scientists and despite
>evolution's centrality to modern biology, virtually all national polls
>indicate approximately one-half of North Americans reject evolution --
>suggesting that they think scientists, textbooks, and teachers are simply
>wrong.
>
>***
>
>Three themes are emphasized throughout the issue:  "the need for improved
>teacher training in pedagogical techniques and content knowledge with
>regard to evolution, the need for effective classroom tools for teaching
>evolution, and the need to confront specific issues related to social
>controversies surrounding evolution education."
>
>Contributors include Randy Moore, discussing the results of a survey on
>what high school students are taught about evolution and creationism; Anila
>Asghar, Jason R. Wiles, and Brian Alters (a member of NCSE's board of
>directors), examining Canadian pre-service elementary teachers' conceptions
>of biological evolution and evolution education; Robert T. Pennock,
>explaining how evolutionary computing and artificial life can aid in the
>teaching of evolution; Judy Scotchmoor and Anastasia Thanukos, discussing
>the pedagogical aims and methods of the Understanding Evolution website;
>Jeff Dodick, explaining how to teach about evolutionary change within the
>framework of geological time; and NCSE's executive director Eugenie C.
>Scott, answering the question "What's wrong with the 'teach the
>controversy' slogan?"
>
>Also included are two opinion pieces -- Craig E. Nelson's "Teaching
>evolution effectively:  A central dilemma and alternative strategies" and
>Massimo Pigliucci's "The evolution-creation wars:  Why teaching more
>science just is not enough" -- and two book reviews, one by NCSE deputy
>director Glenn Branch of Brian Alters's Teaching Biological Evolution in
>Higher Education:  Methodological, Religious, and Nonreligious Issues
>(Sudbury [MA]:  Jones and Bartlett, 2005) and one by Andrew J. Petto (the
>editor of Reports of the National Center for Science Education) of Marc W.
>Kirschner and John C. Gerhardt's The Plausibility of Life:  Resolving
>Darwin's Dilemma (New Haven [CT]:  Yale University Press, 2005).
>
>For the special issue of the journal, visit:
>http://mje.mcgill.ca/issue/view/54
>
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Glenn Branch
>Deputy Director
>National Center for Science Education, Inc.
>420 40th Street, Suite 2
>Oakland, CA 94609-2509
>510-601-7203 x305
>fax: 510-601-7204
>800-290-6006
>[log in to unmask]
>http://www.ncseweb.org
>
>Not in Our Classrooms:  Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong for Our Schools
>http://www.ncseweb.org/nioc
>
>Eugenie C. Scott's Evolution vs. Creationism
>http://www.ncseweb.org/evc
>
>NCSE's work is supported by its members.  Join today!
>http://www.ncseweb.org/membership.asp


-- 
Martin Weiss, Ph.D
Consultant
Science Interpretation
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111 th Street
Corona, New York 11368
718 699 0005 x 356

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